HomeMy WebLinkAbout07161934City Hall, Palo Alto, California.
July 16, 1934.
The _ Council. of:the City of Palo alto met in special
session on this date at 7:302 p.m., in response to the following
call:
"Aos .Mayor of the City or Palo rlto, i hereby call a
special meeting of the Council of the City of Palo
Alto,' to convene at the council chamber in the city
hall at Palo Alto, at the hour of 7:30 p.m, Monday,
July 16,-1234, for the purpose of considering an
appropriation for unemployment relief, and ouch other
matters as may -come before the Council."
Mayor Thomas" pzresided and roll call was as follows; -
Present;: `Bl•oi"s, Bohan, Christensen, Collins, Crandall,
�eliy 'rIos•her, Stephens, Thoits, Thomas, Wood.
Cathcart ,Johnson, Judson, Mitchell.
o
The 'minutes of the meetings of June `'9, July 2 and'
July 9, 1934,' 'were approve, .
an•employment Relief
ia. communiCation was received from the Mayor' ., Co.'1""':itvee
on L:nemp o3ment nelief, requesting an appropriation of •;1UU0.00
to carry on the" relief Work for men and women: to august 13th,
'725.00 of this amount' to. be allocated to the relief of men an:
;;:2"75.00 to the relief,of women.
Absent:'.
A . report w .s' rece ved on this m:{ t. ter from Committee _vQoc,
recom.aena.i:ri-'0, in vies "'of ` the fact that the people of Polo; alto are
being taxed for county unemployment relief and indirectly for
state and federal unemployment relief, that further efforts he
made by the Mayorts Committee to bring about the tronsfer of the
burden_- of - relief from -from the municipality to the county y.o.nd th nt
city appr oar Ntson•s for this purpose be materially recucea,
particularly :daring the next three months.
The � s of A t relief 'Hoy. 5cu e
'J�'Z'&o.�.G'' �lleJtlC.i:� unemployment � 1 �� ,_
a t length.
Councilman Thoits suggested that it might be well for
deter led report to be presentee, by theMayor's L.omm1lttee, explain-
ing the purposes forwhich the funds requested are to be spent.
The Mayor stated that it might be proper for the Mayor
Committee to render with each request for fund: a definite st ,te-
went as to the purpose of the request and for what items the fana:
are to be expended. The Mayor further stated that he was present
at the meeting of the Mayor's. Committee on July 13th and th::tt the
Committee desired a larger appropriation, :which as later rearcet.
to ;10O0.00'; that the new,- committee just appointed had no f un:;s to
work with; t:n t it was realized that the relief during the next
three summer mouths should be cut down to a minimum, but thrt it
was not quite fair to the Committee to appoint them to h ale the
unemployment problem and give the no funds with wnich to carry
on the work.
Councilman Christensen suggested that it m_Lght be ,. ;oar
idea' for each councilman to be furnished with a bulletin prep .re4
by the ayor's Committee giving detailed information in regain to
the number on the relief rolls and itemizing the expenuitures of
the funds appropriated for. relief. Cn motion of Christen.en cs,r2,;
ool n s, it was c
the Mayor's Lomm:t
detailed inforrnat
relief rolls, an i
The mat
unemployment r ro b
the opinion that
it wishes to cunt
Palo Alto is an e
functions which o
sufficient funs
care of its unemp
the best argument
that Palo Alto st:
city funds and h.
the question now
to expend city" fui
made a •verbal reps
SERA (estate .mercy
Councj1r
to consider now is
function; he statE
because the City r.
so long; that very
their unemployed,
question now to .e
to be considered t
The Mayo
no longer an erterg
and is likely to
Palo Alto started.
for continuing to
other cities ---do no
why Palo Alto shou
wishes to.
made to secure clef:
regard to what -pia]
pia:
and in answer to t:
touch with the .i'edi
unable to secure a:
r.fter al]
sentiments on this
seconded by ::o i ln.
for wl00o. vC to cal
:ougust 13th be gran
vote on roll call,
balance of the uen:
nit the s
directed that a co
to the Mayor's. C ;:
omr:
further
appropriation of wl
of the Committee fc
June 30, 1.''.35, was
J. re ::iCenin,;
Council
of El Camino eal a
by him and now .urea
„oilins, it was directed that ..•,,,monthly bulletin be prepared by
he Mayor's Committee and sent.to.each;coun;ciiman,containing
;;,etailea information of dune p. oyment conditions, the number on the
relief rolls, and for what .purposes :the funds are expended.
The .matter of the .'City t e ,general policy in regard to the
unemployment problem was -discussed. Councilman Kelly expressed
n that �a now , .. �, c h whe 0�2..20r1 :1,Clt,,., it was '.,Up to the �.t)1..Y7('.,.:�. to decide �lhe ..her
it wishes +J i to continue the policy: of providing relief funds; that
alo ;1to is an exemplary city Arid carries on a great many
functions which other cities do” not have; that Palo Alto has
.luff icient funds to carry on relief work and started out to take
care of its unemployed; ' that the; Mayor's committee believes that
the best argument in, favor of continuing this work is the fact
to t Palo Alto started gout to take ; care of its unemployed with
city funds and the unemployed expect this to be continued; that
e question now at :hand- is whether the Council wishes to continue
to expend city funds for, thi, purpose
col_ a. N. Hayden, the Mayor's special repr sentative,
a verbal report in regard ; tocounty aid cases and. the
(Mate Emergency" he.lief Administration) projects.
Councilman L,o:iiins, also pointed out that the question
to consider now ie whetherunemployment relief is a municipal
function; he stated that some ,people are recognizing it as such
zecause the City has beer appropriating funds for this purpose for
so long; that very few other cities are expending city funds for
their unemployed, but as Palo Alto has been doing this the
uestion now to decide is whether or not unemployment relief is
to be considered to be a ;municipal function. y
The Mayor pointed out that the unemployment problem is
no loner an emergency; that it has become r. permanent problem
and is likely to be with us for years to come; that, the f2,ct that
Alto started oat to take care of its unemployed is no reason
for continuing to do so, and on the other hand the fs ct that
other cities do not consider it a municipal function is no reason
?a10 Alto should not continue to regard it as such if it
wisnes to.
Councilman Christensen suggested that an attempt be
nude to secure definite -information within the next month or so in
read to what plans the Federal Government may have for relief,
hni in answer to this the Mayor stated that he had been in close
touch with the federal authorities for four months but .was yet
enable to secure any definite information from then,.
After, all who desired to ::peak had expressed their
sentiments on this subject, a ; motion was made by Councilman Wood,
seconded by Collins, that the request . of the Iayor's Committee
for u1OOO.OG tb carry on the relief work for men and women to
oegast 13th be granted. This motion was carried by unanimous
vote on roll . call, this sum to be taken from the unappropriated,
earn nce of the General ?und.
At the suggestion of Councilman Collins, it was
directed that a copy of the minutes of this meeting be forwarded
to the Mayor's. L,omrnittee for their information.
A further request from the. Mayor's Committee for an
:p ropriation of 4:18OG Ca to cover : theadministration expenses
of the 0ommit tee for the fiscal :year, f ror July 1, 1934 to
,rune 30, 1835, was received and referred to the budget committee.
In re '.iidening El' Casino :', e 1
Councilman `hood. brought up the matter of the widening
Camino Real arzd. the necessity `::for .:moving the building o :neu
ts' him and nowused' a °h s.'office, and: expressed his appreciation
forthe'Ordinance ac cepted at the last meeting of: the Council
to s ove .h;is present building to a lot owned by
him at the' corner of Stanford,Avenue and E1 Camino k{er 1. ne
'further stated that` d'ue <to criticism of certain property owners
in .r e?'di stri t and their protest against the moving of this
building to the proposed site, he would abandon the further use
of`..the present building as his office, moving it to another
location],,which' which would not, be suitable for an office, and would
`:erec t :,:a new offa.cebui:ain ; on .his property at the cornea of
Stanford Avenue and `3 Camino Real.
Approve.:
Attest:
Mayor
session on
Roll call
Prese
Absen
approved.
Budge
the propose
was called
Council wou
which all c
and Ilear_s
asked if th
be heard, b
P
year 1934-3
Bonham to ad
Co
stated that
protesting a
Budget from
No. 3 on thi
adoption of
two members
appropriati;3:
its reduct . )
Col
recommendatic
budget appro;
that the itez
proposed bud
Re:
134-3j, was
£tee
A 1
referring to
license be';m
Palo Alto for
show good fai
Alto, and. re.
It
Committee ho.
on this matte
that the matt
committee's d,
decided to ar
ptbbabl y in 01